“Apple and Samsung are in advanced talks to join the rest of the telecoms industry to launch electronic Sim cards, in a move could fundamentally change how consumers sign up to mobile operators,” Daniel Thomas and Tim Bradshaw report for The Financial Times. “The GSMA, the industry association which represents mobile operators worldwide, is close to announcing an agreement to produce a standardised embedded Sim for consumer devices that would include the smartphone makers.”
“The traditional Sim card locks in the user to a network but an embedded Sim would enable a smartphone, tablet or wearable user to avoid locking themselves into a plan with a single operator or sign up to switch instantly,” Thomas and Bradshaw report. “Networks expected to support the plans include AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Whampoa, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone. Anne Bouverot, chief executive of the GSMA, said all parties were heading towards an agreement for the ‘common architecture.'”
“Last year, Apple revealed its own Sim card for its latest iPads. However, it was supported by only a handful of operators such as T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, and just EE in the UK. Those familiar with its UK rollout said that it had not been widely adopted,” Thomas and Bradshaw report. “The electronic Sim is not expected to replace the Apple Sim, a piece of plastic that fits into a device and could be included in the next generation of iPhones. The GSMA said it was ‘continuing to work with Apple to secure their support for the initiative. While we are optimistic, a formal agreement with them is still in progress.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anne, when it comes to handset makers, all you have to do to get Samsung et al. to sign is to get Apple to sign first.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill” for the heads up.]